BERLIN – Town officials agreed to rezone a property at the northern edge of Berlin from industrial to commercial this week with the hope that development would follow.
The Berlin Town Council approved rezoning a 2.3-acre parcel at the intersection of Route 50 and Route 818 from industrial to commercial at the request of property owner Philip Houck.
Mark Cropper, Houck’s attorney, said the old industrial zoning classification had been a mistake, and Berlin Mayor Gee Williams agreed.
“The world has not only changed but it’s changed a dozen times over since 1998,” he said. “We’re in a whole different position now.”
Cropper said Houck’s property had been annexed into Berlin in the late 1990s when plans for a Berlin technology campus were in the works. With the annexation came the town’s promise that water and sewer service would be extended north along Route 818 to the parcel.
That, however, did not happen until recently after the town’s multimillion dollar wastewater treatment plant upgrade.
“Nothing happened between 2000 and 2012,” Cropper said.
The attorney said during the past decade Houck, who bought the property as an investment, hadn’t had any interest from the industrial field but had received inquiries from commercial entities. Because of that and the fact that the land was located at a major intersection, Houck decided to seek a rezoning. His request received a favorable recommendation from the Berlin Planning Commission in 2014.
Cropper said that in his view the industrial zoning had been a mistake and that the property should be zoned B-2.
“It’s a location more conducive to a commercial use,” Cropper said.
Williams was quick to voice his agreement. He said at the time when Houck’s land had been zoned industrial, commercial development on Berlin’s borders had been slow.
“If you’d told people in 1998 there was significant commercial development potential along US 50 or Route 113 they’d literally laugh …,” Williams said. “Things have changed.”
Williams said the technology campus was a vision at the time and the town had pushed for annexation of the property.
“If you want to have any kind of influence on development, annexation is the initial step,” Williams said. “At that time, they made the best decision they could.”
The technology campus idea prompted the industrial zoning, but the concept never gained serious traction, and the idea fizzled without private sector leadership behind it.
Nevertheless, following the recent recession, commercial development is what’s proving to be happening in Berlin. Williams said all of the development interest he was hearing of was commercial.
“The fact that Berlin’s well positioned to take advantage of commercial development along our primary corridors, quite frankly this would be one heck of a great place to start,” he said.
Councilwoman Lisa Hall said she too thought the property was suited for commercial development and added that she would like to see a hotel there. She said the Atlantic Hotel and the town’s pair of bed-and-breakfast establishments weren’t enough anymore to meet lodging demands.
“We don’t have any place for our guests to stay,” she said. “Not everyone wants to go to Ocean City.”